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We also hit up Dragon Bridge, a popular spot to jump into the river below:
Doesn’t look much like a dragon to me. But the water hurt when I landed. It’s higher than it looks, I tells ya.
Then I swam across the river to make friends with a water buffalo. Mission failed.
On the way home we passed a fireworks shop, and Curtis – being Curtis – could not resist buying what would have been hundreds of dollars of fireworks back home…luckily in China it only worked about to $30 or $40. That night we took a water taxi to an abandoned plot on the other side of the river and set off all the fireworks in view of the rooftop bar of the hostel. What the people on the roof DIDN’T see was when the giant box of fireworks knocked itself onto it’s side and began shooting balls of exploding light in every direction! I saw them start to shoot out over the river, exploding just a few feet above the water, getting closer and closer to the boat. In the intermittent light I could see the boat driver running for his life away from the ruckus, which is when I decided to make my own break for it once the explosives turned their sights on me! I start sprinting off to the right, dodging bursts and laughing uproariously as I periodically looked around for everyone else. Curtis and Sam were closer than I was to the fireworks, lighting them off, and I could see them alternating between hitting the deck, running for cover, and laughing their asses off as line after line of exploding phosphorus and magnesium shells zip over their heads in a haphazard free for all reminiscent of some battle in Vietnam! When the melee was over, we all stopped to catch our breath, more from the incessant laughing than from any running we did! Sam finally caught up to us and informed us that he had had no clue where anyone was, and that he was just running towards our laughter for safety! Good thing we thought it was funny! Wow that was a good time! The girls didn’t quite agree with us on that fact. Let’s do it again tomorrow!!!
The best thing about this place was by far the beer pong. They would have twice weekly tournaments, where the “winner takes all” of the pot (actually just a fraction of it, once Jane collected her unannounced dues). Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and Curtis and I became the Canadian team to be reckoned with, on occasion even destroying the bartenders (who, understandably, played a lot of beer pong). One game we simultaneously scored a double bounce and an air shot in the SAME cup, forcing the other team to drink 5 cups in one go AND give us a free turn! I guess I would have to explain the rules of beer pong for most of you to understand that, so you’ll just have to trust me that it was a good shot. In one singles tournament, by some twist of fate, Curtis and I were matched up against each other for a good old Canadian showdown! It was Canadian elimination round of beerpong. The mood was tense, the crowd ecstatic, as the two evenly matched Canadians stepped up the table to see who would move on in the elimination beer pong tournament, winner take all!
Ok so I lost, but it wasn’t by THAT much, and I swear we are more or less evenly matched. If I HAD to lose, it should have been to Curtis. He lost the next round anyway, he sucks. What a waste of money.
So before we knew Jane was crazy, she invited us on an adventure out into the country to visit her parents and have a meal out of town. We all climbed into an early 90’s Dodge Caravan and headed out on a road that was clearly designed for a 4×4. In good weather. In bad weather perhaps some kind of tank. We got to the house just as the rain started to fall in earnest, so our ride there merely consisted of destroying the shocks of Jane’s brother’s poor Dodge. As soon as we got inside the house, the antenna on the roof was struck by lightning and a deafening peal of thunder rolled around the countryside. We began to get the feeling that we would not be leaving any time soon!
So we ate dinner instead.
Countryside. Pretty, na?
Not so pretty on the way home…mostly because we had to literally take apart local farmer’s stone fences to form some sort of road under the wheels of the van because they were so submerged in mud.
The mud was so thick we couldn’t wear shoes or they would just be sucked off our feet as we were pushing the van through the countryside. The best part was being the dude behind the wheel well when the driver hit the gas and splattered mud from ankles to forehead. Too bad the girls didn’t take the time to get a picture of us while we were playing in the mud =P
While in Yangshou we heard about this sweet, cheap-compared-to-home hot air balloon ride you can take over the limestone mountains, giving you an exceptional view of the river winding through the massive rock formations. We were even told that some drivers will take you right down to the river and dip the basket in the water, skipping along in good fun. Well we were skipping along somewhere all right, but it sure as poop wasn’t on a river.
Look ma, no haze!
So we’re flying along peacefully, enjoying the scenery (although it was a bit hazy when the sun rose), and we start to approach some higher elevations. It isn’t a windy day, but you can tell that we are moving along at a decent clip for a giant oversized balloon. All of a sudden the driver starts giving us tips.
Driver: “Bend your knees when we land.”
Us: “Uhhh…ok…weird thing to say in the middle of the flight…we aren’t even close to the clearing where we started.”
Driver: “No, we land here.”
Us: “HERE? Here where? In that tiny clearing there?? On top of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere? There aren’t even any roads!”
Driver: “Don’t worry, we land in the trees!”
Driver (after crash): “Is this your first balloon ride?”
Jeff: “Yeah…is it yours?!”
